


Infinitely Worse People

by Liz_Starling



Series: First Impressions (non-sequential) [2]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Grand Theft Auto Setting, F/M, Fake AH Crew, Origin Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-07-10 12:49:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15949694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liz_Starling/pseuds/Liz_Starling
Summary: “I feel like that would be me and Lindsay if I met her young, like I feel like we’d be infinitely worse people… we’d just be like robbing banks right now”-	Michael Jones, Let's Play Pals - A Way Out - Farting Around (#4)





	Infinitely Worse People

Not many childhood sweethearts stay together, but everyone agreed there was something special about Michael and Lindsay. They met in elementary school, a chance encounter caused by a series of odd events leading both families to move to the same school district.

Michael had a voice like one of those gangsters on tv in the movies she wasn’t supposed to watch, and Lindsay had a mean streak that appealed to his frustration at the false politeness all Texans seemed to exude. It wasn’t love at first sight, but they were drawn to each other, like minds attracting.

When they met, Michael wasn’t afraid of making enemies, and Lindsay wasn’t afraid of anything. They drew together in some kind of perfect orbit, trapped and confined and free all at once, waiting impatiently to grow up, just to make all their dreams come true. They both wanted nothing more than to escape the town that had brought them together.

Children are unconstrained by the pressures of societal norms, and so live by different rules. Children are unapologetically honest and deceitful. They can be unbearably cruel, and they can feel no remorse.

In short, they are just like adults, except they’re better at getting away with it.

When Michael and Lindsay met, they were both a little resentful, both looking for a little fun. He’s harsh in a New Jersey way that he’ll never really grow out of, and she’s self-assured in a way that Texans don’t often like their daughters to be. They’re too alike to do anything but team up, and if you saw them you might know you were seeing something great and terrible.

On their own, they weren’t too bad, hell, may have even grown out of it eventually, but side by side Michael and Lindsay were unstoppable. He was clever and practical, and she was sneaky and manipulative, and neither of them were afraid of hurting others to get what they wanted.

They started, as most do, with mischief, small stuff, the kinds of things that wouldn’t get you sent to juvie if you had a cute face and were good at faking remorseful. They were careful. He slowed her recklessness, and she invigorated his malice.

It wasn’t about money, not at first. It was about doing something they weren’t supposed to, it was about disobeying everything they had been told was right and good and fair.

It was about hurting other people and getting away with it.

They started with small scams; pick-pocketing, shoplifting, and tricking the rich tourists in Dallas who had more money than sense. They didn’t get caught because they were too quick, and they were smart about it. Lindsay had overwhelmed, innocent southern belle down to a tee, and when necessary, Michael had gotten quite good at being the indignant and aggressive boyfriend.

When they left Texas, they were still young, still angry, and still hopped up on their own adrenaline. They weren’t running from any outstanding warrants, but that would soon change as they grew bolder, more and more intoxicated on their own success. Bonnie and Clyde had nothing on them.

They got used to being big fish in a little pond. It might have been a miracle that they didn’t run into anyone they couldn’t con, who would come to know their tricks too well, but Texas goes on for ages, and allows for all kinds to wander her moors. No, it wouldn’t be in Texas that the Jones met their match.

In just a couple of years, they’d each have a rap sheet under their belt, and a gun tucked in next to it. At some point they’d moved on from misdemeanors, but it was a smooth transition, one crime piling on top of the next until they weren’t afraid of anything. Michael decided he didn’t care much for honest work anyway, and Lindsay decided she liked the way dead men fell to their knees before her.

He’s dependable and she’s a wildcard, and they play off each other perfectly. Fuck good cop bad cop, they’re Michael and Lindsay. He keeps her steady and she keeps him on his toes, never really prepared for what she’ll do next, but always expecting something. It works. She doesn’t go off the rails completely, and he doesn’t grow complacent, stays solid.

Michael was rough, and unrepentant about it, taking pleasure in making other people flinch, watching them give in, and crumble on their convictions. He liked his leather jacket, he liked his wife, and he liked the way fire looked when it is consuming. Some people called the Jones pyromaniacs, and they weren’t wrong.

Lindsay was chaos incarnate, drawn to the unexpected whether it benefited her or not. She was wild and uncontrollable, and she liked doing things just because she could. No one knew what she was going to do next, least of all her. She drew pleasure in breaking every little rule that had been drilled into her, every southern hospitality, every Dallas nicety. She liked the idea that she would horrify every snooty townie who had told her that she wasn’t girly enough, she wasn’t polite enough.

By the time they had left Texas, rumors had turned into reputations, and soon enough the Jones started taking contract jobs. It wasn’t as high profile as robbing banks, and the money wasn’t as good at first, but it was infinitely more fun to blow up buildings than to break into them.

And maybe in another life they’d be nicer people but Michael met Lindsay young, and thus began a warpath.

And when they come to Los Santos, they arrive together. Michael was driving what would soon be known as the flashiest car in the city, and Lindsay was lightly dozing in the passenger seat, right hand still lightly grasping onto a pistol. They’re reckless, not insane. Probably.

She’s got his leather jacket draped over her, because there’s nothing like a life of crime to keep chivalry alive, and in the backseat is the Xbox he bought with the money from their first bank heist, because they need something to remind them of where they came from, of what they stand to achieve.

They came to Los Santos for the same reason a lot of people do: the opportunities, the risks, the excitement. They came to Los Santos to make a name for themselves, to prove to everyone else that they were something, that they were to be feared. There’s plenty of crime to go around in Los Santos, so it’s awhile before they run into anyone noteworthy.

It’ll be awhile before they start working with others, it’ll be years before they’ll even want to. And even then it’ll be awhile before they start trusting anyone else, before they meet anyone worth trusting. (They would, eventually. Like mind would meet like mind. Michael would know others who always felt rage beneath their skin, Lindsay would know others who felt trapped by the southern air.)

But until then, they make a good team, just the two of them; they don’t need anyone else to be successful. They’re both smart, both cruel and mean and too good at earning a dishonest living to settle for anything less. Everyone agreed there was something special about Michael and Lindsay. They had no idea what would happen next.


End file.
